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They say distance makes the heart grow fonder… It’s been a while since I last blogged so I thought I’d get back into the swing of it with a brand new shiny banner I created in InDesign (you like?) and a portfolio update. I’ve also been busy creating a new website purely for my portfolio viewing purposes for potential new clients, you can view that at http://www.mariebruce.com It’s a very simple minimalist design so that it doesn’t detract from it’s main purpose – and i’m super happy I managed to do the whole thing all by myself! I feel so grown up.

Now onto the good stuff. Let’s get re-aquainted shall we?

A quick test with the stunning Eydis from Elite London. Photographed by Chris Nutt. I wanted to have some fun and experiment with different lighting, colour and textures and we were sent beautiful new face Eydis for the occasion. Eydis has gone on to feature in one the of the new Lisa Eldridge for Elle tutorials as well as various other editorials – she is destined for big things and with brows to rival Cara Delevigne it’s not hard to see why!

Another beauty test with lovely Eliza also from Elite London. This was shot by the ever talented Marco (www.marcomajocchi.com) who is the king of beauty photography. Eliza had beautiful skin and need very little coverage. I kept the focus on her eyes using browns and golds taking the colour right up to her eyebrows. Healthy Mix foundation was used to perfect Eliza’s skin.

You may recognise the set up of these images from a previous post where I got to go to Southend for the day. These images have recently been published by C-Heads magazine – http://www.c-heads.com/2013/12/05/lucy-anderson-and-steph-taylor-by-rosaline-shahnavaz-for-c-heads/ where you can see the full story!

A couple of images from an editorial a couple of months back. Our model was Julia @ Joy (SA) and Storm (LON) who was the sweetest thing. The shoot was quite experimental and involved lots of psychedelic elements, 60’s vibes and British brands. The full story can be seen at: http://issuu.com/imute/docs/imute_magazine_issue_no.4

Another editorial shot by Benjamin Mallek ( http://www.benjaminmallek.com) in collaboration with Primitive London. Our model was lovely Cara who had gorgeous skin which I made luminous using Chanel Vitalumiere. The full set can be seen at: http://umagmag.com/2013/11/cara-lewis-benjamin-mallek/

A couple of images from a quite beauty shoot with photographer Polly Hanrahan. I just wanted to play around with shapes and textures and glitter. Nothing too thought out, just having some fun and seeing where the mood takes me!

Two stunning images from Marco again, with Tamara and Viktorija at Elite London. Nice natural makeup was applied here to these beauties. From memory I believe I used sheered out MAC full coverage on Tamara (left) and Chanel Vitalumiere on Vik (right). The full set of images are all so beautiful with couture styling by Ricardo M Chiacchio.

I think that sums up most of what I have been doing the last few months in a nutshell.

For more makeup related goodness you can visit me on Instagram @mariebruce which I regularly update!

I will also be doing a charity raffle in the new year to raise money for ‘Scope’ where I will be selling tickets to win a hamper of makeup and beauty goodies. So far the hamper contains several NARS products including some limited editions, my favourite mascara, some Nails inc goodies and an eye shadow palette. Once I am happy with the amount of products in the hamper I will be giving details of how to buy raffle tickets in the new year!

For now it’s cheerio, I will hopefully be updating a bit more regularly over the winter months as things become a little quiet on the work front so stay tuned!

I’ve been somewhat indulgent of late… Not only have I been adding to my make up kit, I’ve also been very naughty and acquired a new addition to my family…

Meet Fred..!

Eating fluff, casually…

I got Fred a few days ago, he is SO cheeky… A friend of mine decided to re-home him after he realised he didn’t have the time to look after him, so me being me I decided to take him in! Pugs are one of my favourite breed of dogs, alongside Pomeranians, Chow chows, Frenchies, and St Bernards… What can I say, I LOVE the fuzzy things!

Right, back to the main topics of the day, I’ve been adding to my kit more than usual lately, so I thought i’d do a round up of some of the new products that I’m loving at the moment.

I’ll list the products individually and do a quick review giving my personal opinions on them…

First up…

Rimmel Stay Blushed – Sunkissed Cherry (L) and Pop of Pink (R)

The latest offering in cream blush is from Rimmel. Described as a ‘Lightweight liquid cheek tint’ these two shades of blush provide a decent amount of colour. I personally love the packaging as it’s perfect for my kit, I’m able to check which colour I want without unscrewing the lid etc as the colour is right there in front of you. You have to blend quite quickly as the kind of ‘set’ real quick once you start smoothing it into the skin. Long lasting, perfect for wedding make up or any make up that you wish to stay put all day.

MAC Paint Pot in Groundwork

Next up is a Paint Pot by MAC in the Shade Groundwork. I kept seeing postings from one of my favourite artists Kenneth Soh (www.musingsofamakeupartist.com) using this shade and I really waned to test it out for myself. I love the shade and I think it suits almost all skin tones. It’s super blend-able and gives good definition when blending into the socket lines. Looks good as a look on it’s own with a red lip. Looking forward to using this more on shoots.

Maybelline 24 Hour Colour Tattoo Eye Shadow

A beautiful golden pink shade of Maybellines 24 hour cream eye shadow, this gorgeously girly colour is easily blended and provides a multi tonal shade across your lids. A perfect shade for brides and natural look make up looks. I totally under use my cream eye shadows but I love the consistency and blendability (is that even a word?!) of Maybellines cream shadows. MUST.BUY.MORE…!!

Clinique Airbrush Concealer in shade ’03 Light’

I’ve been wanting to expand on my concealers lately and after reading great reviews for Clinique’s Airbrush Concealer I thought I’d take the plunge and try it out. I got the shade 03 Light as it’s the sort of shade I use my often on my models so I knew it would definitely get used and tested. So far so good, I used it last week on a model (of which I will upload photos of soon) and it did exactly what it said it would. It’s got a lightwieght formula and blends into the skin effortlessly. I will definitely be purchasing some darker shades for my kit too.

Sanctuary Spa Stop The Clock Moisturiser with SPF 15

Now onto skin care which brings me to this moisturiser by Sanctuary Spa. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this moisturiser. I tend to have normal to oily to extremely oily skin and I don’t find this creamy moisturiser too heavy at all. It feels extremely indulgent and has a wonderful fresh scent to it. With SPF 15 in it it also reassures me that I’m protecting my skin. I have also used this on a couple of my models and it has provided amazing results. It acts great as a base for foundation and the SPF is low enough that it doesn’t give any flashback when flash photography. I’m going to purchase another tub so that I can always have one in my bathroom and one in my kit. Super happy with this purchase.

Soap & Glory Scrub Your Nose In It

Second up in skin care is this finely milled facial scrub – come – mask by Soap & Glory. I haven’t used many of Soap & Glory’s skin care or cosmetics, to be completely honest I always presumed that when a products packaging is so nice that the actual product is somewhat overlooked. I picked up this scrub however after I saw the AHA formula and high quality ingredients. So far it has not disappointed! I have only used this on myself so far as I forgot to take it with me to my last shoot however I cannot wait to use it on my next model should she require some exfoliation. I find a lot of facial scrubs a bit too harsh but this one has such tiny grains in that it doesn’t matter how much or how hard you scrub you’re never going to damage or harm your skin unlike those with larger beads/grains in. It has a minty scent to it and you can use it as a scrub on damp skin or as a face mask. My pores appear reduced after a week of using this and my overall complexion seems a lot clearer. I love the minty cooling feeling it gives, a great product in my opinion so far which I will definitely be adding to my models skin preparation.

Barry M ‘Blue Moon’ Nail Polish

I am such a lover of blue nail polish. This new blue form Barry M is more of a minty green/blue colour which has a very subtle iridescence to it. It has a good coverage and 2-3 coats is plenty enough for a dense colour. This and Blueberry (also Barry M) are my latest new favourite blue shades.

Last of my new additions are these Lipstick Palettes (they’re actually advertised a bead storage containers) from Hobbycraft. I have been wanting to get all of my lipsticks into one place for some time now as opposed to having them loose in a storage bag and spending too much time looking for a specific shade. I decided to go for something fairly inexpensive as opposed to something like the Japonesque lip palette. There’s plenty of space in these containers (a little bit more than I actually wanted) to hold a full lipstick bullet and at jus over £4 for two I think they are a great lip storage palette! Great for dividing up shades such as reds/pinks/nudes/darks etc.

Wellt that’s it from me. I hope you all have had a great weekend. I plan to do a portfolio update post shortly as I’ve had a fair few images back from recent shoots that’d I’d love to share with product breakdowns…so watch this space!

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside…! Oh I do like to be beside the sea!!

Yesterday I got to go to Southend-on-Sea for an editorial for Ballad Of Magazine. Going to such fun locations is such a plus in this industry, it puts the whole team in a good mood which in turn creatives positive energy making the days work a success and fun!!

The story we was shooting is based on the theme of Sugar & Spice – taking things from your childhood memories to influence and inform the images. We got to shoot two lovely models, Stephanie & Lucy, and here’s what I did with them..!

Stephanie had the most gorgeous skin. I used plenty of strobe cream on her high points for extra dewiness and glow. For both of our girls I created a similar looks with slight variances. I made Stephanie’s brows more defined and used less colour on her eyes and more bronzer. I used a mattifying moisturiser by Elemis (smells lovely and lemon-y!) due to the heat – I didn’t want the girls skin getting to oily/slippery under the intense heat we’ve been having lately. I used MAC full coverage as a base and buffed it in with Real Technique’s Expert face Brush – one of my favourite brushes!

Here’s Lucy’s first look. Lucy had such long eyelashes – just look at those shadows they are creating! She also had quite untamed eyebrows which I love so I decided not to fill them in but to gel them into place and build up a stronger eye. I also used full coverage by MAC as Lucy’s base matching to her natural colour. Some contouring and moisturised nude lips and our beauties were good to go!

And one of the girls together… I used the dark lip colour on Lucy in some of the looks for some variance in the final images. Note to self, I NEED that fluffy white jumper!!

All in all a great shoot once again with a great team and a great location. Here’s a few more behind the scenes images I snapped throughout the day!

All images were shot with film – I can’t wait to share once the magazine comes out in print!

In other news, I just purchased This Works ‘In Transit Close Up’ which claims to be a moisturiser-come-primer which I can’t wait to use on my next shoot – I may possibly write a quick review of it once I’ve decided if it will make my kit or not! Also, I have FINALLY found my perfect blue nail varnish – I love blue nails, and this, Blueberry by Barry M, is now my ultimate staple. With it’s gel formula is also super shiny and long lasting!

So I’ve just got some images back from an amazing editorial shoot I did a few months back which I’m now allowed to share!

The shoot took place in a really cool studio in East London called provision – really loved that place, must keep it in mind for future projects!

So our lovely model for the day was Hannah from Storm who can be seen here with some very minimal natural make up on by me:

The brief was very Alexander McQueen inspired. A lot of natural decay & taxidermy. Our model was to have a lot of contouring, and her eyebrows blocked out. Fun!

Here’s some behind the scenes I snapped whilst we were getting down to business:

And here was my make up station. A nice big huge space for my kit with the biggest mirror, love! I would like to point out that this was post-make up application and not beforehand, i’m not THAT messy ha.

For eyebrow blocking there’s a few methods one can use to create an illusion of a brow-less face. One way, which was the first way I learned, is to use wax. Essentially it involves using your thumb and a lot of pressure to smooth the wax over the brow to seal the hairs in place. The second and most favoured method is to use Pritt Stick! For this, you basically want to slide one layer of pritt stick over the brow, and then use a spatular and dig a chunk out of the glue stick to smooth over the brow once the first layer has dried. As with both methods it’s then a case of building the concealer up in layers and powdering in between for extra hold.

Hannah previously had a bad experience with the pritt stick method when another MUA did not remove it all after the job therefore she was not so keen on having them removed that way, luckily I brought with me both my glue AND wax!

The wax version is a little harder to work with however with a sharp eye I managed to get rid of those brows and was able to jump in at any point to smooth anything over. The wax I use is by Kryolan which can be found online or at Charles Fox in Covent Garden, London.

As this shoot was a few months ago, I can’t fully remember all of the products I used but I can definitely remember a few..

For Hannah’s complexion I used MAC’s Full Coverage in a blend of two shades. For all of you who have used full coverage before and know how thick it i, fear not – just use less and mix it with some Strobe cream. It gives a really nice coverage to skin and has that dewy effect at the same time owing to the strobe cream. I use this a lot on my models and it has a really great staying power. For Hannah’s eye contouring I used a mix of medium and dark browns from my MAC palette and I know Satin Taupe was definitely used A LOT. For contouring I used Bourjois Delice de Poudre Bronzing Powder in shade 52.

Without further ado, here are a selection of the final images that I personally love.

What do you think? Probably not an everyday look for the office but I love the flow of the images, the styling and the dramatics of the props.

Recently I was part of a very exciting shoot which took place on a boat on the canal in West London. One thing to know about me is I LOVE boats. In fact, one of my many aims in life is to get my skipper license so that I can sail my own boat one day. So yeah, love the things.

I was lucky to be in the company of so many talented and creative people that day. The owner of the boat, a ridiculously cool cordwainer who makes amazing accessories from leather was the perfect host, sailing us to various locations for the shoot, telling us about the history of the canal and the grand surrounding buildings. We sailed through the picturesque Little Venice and eventually moored in Camden Lock where there were hundreds of folk out drinking along the waterside and the rooftop bars – watching us as we captured the final look of the day and wrapped up.

Some behind the scenes I snapped during the day. How adorable is the husky we had for company?

We had a male and female model on board (literally) and I was Hair & Make up Artist for the female model, Lera. Although I didn’t get a snap of Lera pre-hair & make up I have managed to find a pretty natural shot which I’ve sneaked from her book. Here is the lovely lady.

Lera had gorgeous eyes and really full lips – a dream to work on basically! I decided to use Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in a mix of shades 51 and 53 until I reached Lera’s perfect skin colouring. There were three looks required for the whole shoot, but only slight variances, nothing too drastic which required me to change the whole look completely.

As this shoot was for submission to a magazine I’m not allowed to share the final images online however I can show you some of the beauty images that were pulled out for me to use for my book.

Look #1

This was the first look where I used some golden shades from my MAC palette to create a golden brown defined eye. Unfortunately the harsh sunlight took away a lot of the shimmery golden-ness from the eyes but I’m kind of loving the rusty effect it has created. On Lera’s lips I used a couple of shades from my Kryolan lip palette and slicked my Tarte LipSurgence over the top for some added colour and shine.

Look #2

Here in look two I upped the ante a little, with some stronger contouring (although not visible in this image) using my Dainty Doll blush in 003. For lips I removed the first layers of products with Bioderma Crealine H20 on a cotton pad, smoothed over the foundation and concealed around the mouth area before lining with MAC’s ‘Redd’ lip liner. I filled in Lera’s lips with Russian Red, also by MAC and patted an orange coloured lipstick (Kiss Me by Sleek) for a subtle 3 dimensional look. How luscious do our models lips look here?!

Look #3

And finally look three. I used a mix of deep reds from my Kryolan palette to create this deep glossy red shade and brightened Lera’s eyes using my favourite highlighter Luna. I can’t wait to share the final editorial when it comes out, not long now!

Which is your favourite look? I think mine is the last, teamed with those wavy glossy locks I created with my straighteners!

Thursday had me working with a new photographer, Chris Nutt. Chris takes beautiful photographs of beautiful boys and girls.

In the studio today we got to play with the ever so handsome Ross, winner of this years Elite Model Look. At just 16 years old Ross was scouted in London’s Covent Garden whilst out shopping with his mum.

I was excited to work with Ross as I was there at the final where I watched him walk the catwalk in front of hundreds of people and the judges. He was crowned winner out of 11 competitors and the standards were very high. Here is a photo just before the winner was announced.

So, Into the studio came a very tall (6ft 1!) young man all bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to have some photos taken for his book. As a make up artist you’ll often be asked to do natural grooming for male models. Although it’s not as exciting as working with girls, it’s always real fun and laid back, and Ross was no exception.

For the grooming I kept it simple, cleansed his skin and massaged the cleanser in for a mini facial massage to get his blood moving and waken the face. At 16 years he he really didn’t need much doing as he had the gift of youthful skin, therefore I used a thin layer of MAC’s face and body, and concealed just where he needed it. I gelled his brows into place, and mattified his skin and moisturised his lips and he was pretty much ready to go! With male models you only really need to apply what is needed, to enhance the looks and not change them too much, and to keep the texture of the skin looking as natural as possible.

Apologies that I didn’t get a closeup, but here is Ross in action after I released him from my make up chair!

I’m sure that he’s going to have an amazing modelling career, I will post the final images once they are ready 🙂

Wednesday saw me making up the absolutely stunning Michaela. Michaela is the kind of beauty that stops you in your tracks, literally. She has a face full of adorable freckles, huge, I mean HUGE eyes and full plump lips with very long voluminous dark hair. Boy was I in awe of her. And what a lovely girl she was too. I was very lucky to have such a great canvas to work with.

Michaela had very normal skin, not too oily and not too dry. She has some small blemishes to the sides of her cheeks, but nothing that a bit of make up couldn’t disguise!

I gave Michaela a mini facial massage when moisturising Benefit’s Total Moisture into her skin. I then used strobe cream all over for that under foundation glow! The brief was to create a purple smokey eye and a nude lip so I looked at Michaela’s skin and feautres and picked these products accordingly. As she had beautiful freckles I didn’t want to cover them up completely and so I used Chanel Vitalumiere as her base. This foundation is one of my favourites (mostly I love the scent ha!) but it gives a beautiful light/med coverage and a gorgeous glow to the skin, perfect for our model.

Being the numnut I am I didn’t take a before photo of Michaela, and I was going to take a retrospective before photo after I removed the make up after the shoot was complete however she wanted to keep it on, so that failed ha! But here’s a couple of photos I took after I applied her make up with and without my flash.

Isn’t she gorgeous? The purple goes really well with her colouring and her dark hair and brows. HER BROWS, I forgot to mention, were amazing. With the strong eye they really didn’t need anything adding to them so I used my usual trick of ‘glueing’ them in place and voila, that’s Michaela’s look complete.

I should also mention that in the background of the first image is Louise O’Keeffe (http://www.louise-okeeffe.com) who is an amazingly talented fashion illustrator. Go check her work out! I plan on purchasing some (a lot) of her prints for my house!

What do you think about this look? Simple but gorgeous I think. Comments and suggestions are welcome!

This week has certainly been a busy one, so I purposely kept my Saturday free so that I could catch up on some missed sleep, possibly hit the gym, take my mum out for some birthday shopping… And of course post my first piece of content on this blog! As this week was such a busy one I shall be doing three separate posts instead of one huge one so bear with me!

On Tuesday I had my first bridal trial for a lovely lady and her darling mother. My blushing bride wanted quite a simple, chic make up, obviously something that would stand the test of time, parred with a classic feline flick and some soft definition to the eye socket area. When thinking in terms of wedding make up you need to think about how you are going to prep the skin ready for the base so that you know it’s going to last all day and night.

My bride had quite a few open pores around her nose and cheeks and some dryness around her chin area. With this in mind I used a very light moisturiser, and focused it mostly around her dry spots. I gave her a mini facial massage and really worked the moisturiser into her chin where her dryness was. Even with dry skin you don’t want to use too much of a rich moisturiser as the make up has to last; you want to layer it thinly where you need it most.

Next step was to tackle those open pores! I used a primer which was silicone based so that it would act as a filler for those pesky pores. I smoothed the primer with my hands over the larger areas of the face (chin, cheeks, nose and forehead) and voila! Hello smooth gorgeous skin! Some brands that do really nice silicone based primers are Smashbox, Make up Forever and Laura Mercier. After the skin prep was complete, I swiped a bit of Elizabeth Arden’s 8 Hour Cream on my brides lips and worked MAC’s Strobe Cream into the outer/higher planes of her face (cheekbones, bridge of nose, sides of forehead).

The foundation I chose to use was, of course, Estee Lauder’s Double Wear Maximum Coverage. This stuff needs to be worked into the skin quite quickly as I feel it ‘sets’ almost as soon as it touches the skins. With this in mind I tend to pat (slap) it into the skin using my hands. An odd technique but I love it and it works! It also really plumps up the skin!

Unfortunately I forgot to take a before and after picture of my bride, but I will definitely get one of her on the day so that I can show you all. She loved her final look and I asked her to keep it on all evening so that she could report back to me and let me know how it felt and sat on her skin. Some of the other products I used on our bride were: ‘Luna’ by MAC (highlight), Make up Forever HD Powder, ‘Blacktrack’ by MAC, ‘Satin Taupe’ MAC, ‘And on Bronze’ Maybelline Gel Eye Shadow.

Next up was her mothers make up. Her mother, oh what a darling she was. She was so excited to have her make up done. She said she hadn’t worn mascara for years! She was such a interesting woman, we talked about the 60’s which was ‘her decade’ (her words not mine) and we spoke at length about Biba Make up, her friends who used to mimic the Biba girls big lashy eyes and of course the fashions of the 60’s. I love talking to older ladies and hearing first had what it was like to grow up in such influential times. Gah!

So our lovely mother of the bride wanted a look that went with her lilac a dusky pink outfit. She had really good healthy skin and her prep was quite simple. I chose to use MAC’s face and body on her as with older skin you need a base that’s quite moisturising and face & body seemed to sit perfectly on her skin. I chose a few shades of purple from my Smashbbox palette to create a very soft purple eye, using the darker shades in her socket line for definition. For her lips I used about three different shades from my Kryolan lip palette to create a sort of orange/red satin lip colour.

Again, as I get older and my memory fails me I didn’t take a before photo however I DID manage to capture an after photo of our lovely lady, here she is:

What do you think? Doesn’t she look glowing!

So that was my Tuesday, I spent about 4.5 hrs in total at the trial. I must say these ladies were so lovely that a lot of the time we spent talking about boats and the 60’s and traded mother in law stories, however upon leaving I felt confident that they both loved their looks and were indeed very happy.

So, THIS just happened. I FINALLY created a blog. Granted, at present it’s not so sophisticated, and I definitely haven’t got this whole html, widget and links thing nailed, but boy am I on my way.

Forget first job interviews, meeting the parents, driving test; THIS is the real ball buster. The kind of stuff that keeps you awake at night… The infamous First Blog Entry.

So, without further ado, let me introduce myself.

My name is Marie. I’m a London girl, of average height and average looks with an above average fondness (edit, infatuation) for Make up, Skincare and Fashion and Life. Oh and the sun. Always the sun.

What Love & War Paint aims to bring is a view of the life of a Make up Artist from the inside out. It will be a platform for my obsessive ‘behind the scenes’ photo snapping, before & afters, pro product reviews and anything else I find amusing or share-worthy along the way.

I do hope you enjoy, feel free to shoot me a message to let me know your thoughts, and in the meantime I’ll be polishing up on my blogging and technological skills to make viewing Love & War Paint that little bit easier on your mince pies.